Project Management Data, Information and Reports

Within your project there are three types of data that you’ll come across.

The first is the most raw type of data, things such as raw observations during activities performed to carry out the work. For example, how many times did you do “X”? It’s also called work performance data and you’ll come across this in your CAPM and PMP exam. There’s data, there’s information, and then there’s reports. Each of these feed into each other so it’s quite important to take note of.

Work Performance Data

Data is the raw stuff, raw observations such as a count of “this many actions” or “this many dollars”. Project Management Data is often captured in your Project Management Information System, which is the overall process and software you use to capture and hold project information. Examples include:

1. Work physically completed
2. Quality and technical performance measures
3. Start and finish dates of schedule activities
4. Number of change requests submitted, or approved
5. Number of defects
6. Actual costs or money spent
7. Actual durations of activity

Work Performance Information

We analyze the work performance data to turn it into work performance information, analysing against other information it to give a status, such as estimates to complete on the project. This is where we turn it into things like variances, percentages or charts and information that people can use more readily than just the raw numbers. It’s things such as the cost performance index (which you’ll come across) or the schedule performance index which we’ll need to calculate to see how a project is going.

It also includes things such as:
1. Status of deliverables
2. Implementation status for change requests
3. Forecast estimates to complete

Work Performance Reports

This is where we put all of of that information into a nice pretty document, usually that someone can read quite easily and we turn that into our work performance report. Another way to look at this is we’re executing the processes and physically doing them that’s the work performance data. As we’re controlling those processes we need to analyze them and see how they’re going maybe they’re 80% complete for example that’s our work performance information. Then when we’re wanting to report on our overall project and control that within the business and maybe report up to our executives, managers, sponsors or the stakeholders who are involved then we’re wanting to do a work performance report so they can see how it’s tracking as well.

This really feeds into our project change control and our project communications that help us to show how everything is going.

– David McLachlan